Fall Fundraising!

So, obviously this is several weeks late… but we haven’t had time to stop and think lately, so better late than never! 

And I know I owe everyone a carpet update… but we also haven’t had time to stop and put our house back in order!  So, coming soon, I promise.  In the meantime… a look back!  It’s a long look, but there’s a really funny story at the end, so stick with me…

In September, we had two major fundraisers for two organizations that are very important to us!  The first was our church’s annual fish fry.  This is the 9th year we’ve been doing it, and it is a tremendous amount of work, but it is really fun and we enjoy doing it!  I am not very good at stopping to take pictures, so the pics are kind of random, but here’s a few good ones…

Hate that this one is blurry (I was learning to use a new lens), but it gives you an idea of how many people show up to help during the day!  People showed up before noon, and stayed until 9… it’s a long day!

Laney insisted on bringing her “purple puppy,” complete with pink ribbon leash.  It was pretty funny!

Eventually she got tired of carrying the puppy around, so she tied it to the trailer underneath the tent and told it to “Stay.”  Her puppy is very good at stay, and she stopped by several times to remind her to stay!  Too cute, but one FILTHY dog by the end of the night!

My dad, doing his thing!

The youth are always in charge of the games- mostly keeping the younger kids busy so that the grown ups can enjoy the Silent Auction and the Live Auction.  Laney certainly enjoyed the play-doh, painting, bounce house… she was one busy little girl!

One of the youth, helping a painter!

These girls were too cute… they moved in a pack!  One minute they were all coloring, the next they were all at the play-doh table.  Guess that mentality starts young!  This is after the rain started, and we had to move the play-doh and coloring tables inside.  All things considered, though, the rain didn’t bother us much!

So, that was the Fish Fry… always a good time, and a pretty good success- we raised over $5,000, despite having 200 fewer people (threats of ugly storms and an evening MU football game hurt our attendance). 

The weekend after the Fish Fry, we headed to Southern Illinois for the Galatia Stride & Ride.  This is an MDA fundraiser that the Price family helps put on every year, and it is a MAJOR undertaking, and a really good time!  We’ve only been two years now, but we love it!

A big part of the fundraising comes from a Silent Auction that is HUGE, and has a little bit of everything in it!

These two are the reason the Price family is so involved… my two cousins, Beau and Gabe, who both have MD. 

Beau and his Momma, Jenny:

A lovely family photo, courtesy of Charlie!  I was just trying to take a picture of Mom, Dad & Ruth and Charlie had to help.  Really, it’s kind of a telling picture of our family! :)

A random line-em-up-and-shoot-em shot…

Beau, holding Audrey…

My dad, doing his thing again! :)

One of the funniest things the whole day was watching Sam and some of the other too cool boy cousins play with Laney.  Just goes to show you that no one is too cool to have fun with a 3 year old!

And I have to say THANK YOU to Maggie, who played with Laney for a good portion of the day.  We really had a good time… except for one little incident, probably one of my more humiliating mommy moments…

So, they have a bunch of games for kids, which Laney and Maggie had been exploring all day.  Josh and I were watching one of the games, when I suddenly heard “MOOOOMMMMY” from a voice I knew was my little girl.  So, I turned around, and there is Laney, in the middle of the field full of kids’ games, with her shorts around her ankles.  She was pulling at her underwear, so I went running, thinking she had to go to the bathroom or had gone in her pants and was about to take them off.  Right as I got to her, another mom came up to me and asked “Did you see what happened?” I said no, ‘cause I hadn’t, and the mom said “Well, I guess she had to go to the bathroom because she just pulled her pants down, squatted and peed right there.  But she peed all over her shorts, so that’s why she was taking them off.”  Yeah, I was mortified… my daughter PEED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE!!!  Oh, the humiliation… needless to say, I rushed Laney to the bathroom for a change of clothes and a nice, long discussion about asking someone where the bathroom is if you have to go, and never, NEVER peeing in the middle of a park full of people. 

Besides that one incident, we really had a great time.  We bought some fun stuff in the silent and live auction (including a handmade Saluki corn hole game that Josh wanted), and totally enjoyed spending the day with the IL family.

So, there’s the quick update on the craziness of the last two weekends of September!  I promise a carpet update will be coming as soon as the house is unpacked and straightened enough for an “after” picture!